>> announcer: and now, from washington's leading news station, this is news4 at 11. tonight, hurricane sandy is growing. >> it's still days away from arriving here, but this monster storm has the potential to impact millions of us along the

east coast. right now local power crews are gearing up as sandy barrels over cuba, the bahamas and hate thety. new video shows the damage, homes giving way to floodwaters as people rush to salvage what they can. >> doug kammerer is here to kick off team coverage with a look at the path. >> we have a new path that's just come in from the national hurricane center. hurricane sandy just off the coast of florida. you can see all the rain in the outer bands making their way through miami, upwards of 60-mile-an-hour winds. the storm itself is still over the bahamas. we don't have radar out that far, but the center clearly defined here. we're going to be watching this one very closely over the next couple of days. this is the latest track from the national hurricane center, the latest winds 90 miles an hour. that is down a little bit, moving north-northwest at 15 miles an hour. still a strong cat thegoer 1 storm and that's pretty much where this is going to be, probably a cat 1, maybe a cat 2

over the next few days. this may state a cat 1. doesn't matter the strength of the hurricane because once it moves our way it has the potential to become a superstorm. the latest track has now shifted farther to the south, more in line to our area, and i think we are going to see major impacts from this from the delmarva coast or toward delaware and maryland beaches right on in through the d.c. metro area. very high impacts and maybe even more than that. we're going to be talking much more about this coming up in my full forecast. right now, though, we go to jim cantore who's been in florida all day. >> reporter: good evening, from singer island florida where the storm center is about 200 miles away, but you can see the wind is blowing behind me. this is the lesson we want everyone to take from this, regardless of where this center is and where it comes ashore, there will be far-reaching effects, especially for the northeast as our confidence grows heading into late sunday and early next week. for florida, the closest approach will bl tomorrow,

expecting more wind, stronger perhaps, maybe gusts up to 65 miles per hour, we got up to 40 today. also bands of heavy rain. miami specifically is only 4 inches from their all-time wettest year on record. we could certainly see enough rain through tomorrow to get us close to the record. things improve in florida saturday night and sunday as the northeast begins to plan for what some are saying we've never even seen before. a hurricane inside a nor'easter. back to you. >> utility companies are working hard to head off extended power failures, like the ones we had a few months ago. workers are on alert from florida to new england. in our area, dominion virginia is stocking trucks with supplies and they're monitoring the for cast. pepco practical contractors are freeze mode, they can't travel. pg&e have crews on standby. >> metro is gearing up to put

sandbags where high water is possible. also pumping stations are being checked. >> the storm is blamed for at least 11 deaths in cuba and now it's turning its attention to the u.s. from frida to new york, jay gray with a closer look at how cities are preparing coming up at 11:15. in prince george's county, nine cars have been set on fire over a 24-hour period. fire officials believe they're linked and now they're warning the public about a serial arsonist. more on the costly crime spree. >> reporter: strange popping sounds and an eerie orange glow wakened vincent white around 9:00 a.m. >> the window was engulfed in flames. >> reporter: that's one of the air bags in the tree. it exploded in the fire. his car wasn't the fist in the span of 20 hours, several cars were burned or fwroeken into in prince george's county. >> they attempted but once my alarm went off, they scattered.

>> reporter: his suv was just minimaled from being torched. >> reporter: frank had been alerted to something amiss in his driveway. >> my wife just woke me up, she told me, your car alarm is going off. and she said, oh, look, it looks like there's fire, there's fire. >> within a 22-hour period, nine auto fires were set ablaze in the settering, largo, buoy, upper marlborough areas. >> reporter: it's not clear if someone is trying to cover up vehicle break-ins or if it's burning for burning sake. police and fire investigators will be out in the neighborhoods where these fires have happen and elsewhere as well. they're asking citizens to take steps, leave a porch light on and report any suspicious activity. in largo,s derek ward, news4. you park illegally or run a red light, you'll probably get a ticket in d.c. but it appears that certain employees are getting parking privileges the rest of us don't

get. the news4 i team has been undercover for the past month to find out who's parking for free. here's trisha thompson with our report. >> reporter: pay to park. or pay the fine. what happens if you don't pay the meter? >> then you get a ticket. >> reporter: parking officers don't play around in the district. >> i've gotten a ticket. only three minutes over the time limit. >> reporter: but after getting a tip from a viewer, the news4 i-team started its own parking patrol. the wait until you see which district employees are illegally parking all day and getting away with it. >> oh, wow. that's interesting. >> well, i think it's unfair. >> reporter: it's 7:00 a.m. spots are filling up fast around the d.c. government's reeves center on 14th in northwest. while some drivers drop in coin it's hard not to notice car after car after car sitting at unpaid meters. hanging on the mirror? handicap placards. according to d.c. law, placards only allow you free parking for

twice the posted time on the meter. we watched this guy day after day park his dodge charger on "v" street at a two-hour meter. he climbs into a d.c. department of transportation van that drives across town where it drops him off at his job directing traffic. three hours after his time expires, his car still sits near the reeves center. no money in the meter. no ticket on the window. >> for the last few weeks we've been watching you park this car with a handicap placard. >> i'm asking your friend to get the camera out of my face. >> reporter: sorry? you don't want to give us a comment? >> reporter: we also see this ddot employee not paying up before heading to work. one day director traffic, another day patrolling "k" street for parking violations. that's right, she writes parking tickets. >> they should have to pay like everybody else. >> reporter: parking isn't the only thing we notice. we follow one of the ddot vans

as it drives around fo foush two hours, making stops as staip eltz, cvs and a restaurant before dropping any officers off. we also catch some. >> the vans running red lights. >> anybody that runs a red light or, you know, breaks a traffic law, that sort of stuff, that's not tolerated. >> reporter: john lyle with ddot says all of its employees are expected to follow the law like everyone else. >> that concern has already been raised with the supervisors to make sure that they tell their staff that that's not acceptable. >> reporter: as for parking, lyle says district employees do not get a free pass, and using a handicap placard does not allow for unlimited use. >> that's an issue that we've been trying to address, and it's why we created the red top meter program, so that everybody would have to pay for parking because we really think that's going to cut down on the fraud. >> that red top meter program is expected to begin next year. there will be 1,500 meters where

only drivers with handicap placards can park. but they still have to pay. while ddot tells us enforcing handicap placards is hard in the district, maryland recently made it easier for its officers, giving them access to a database of drivers with placards so they can check. doreen? >> thanks. for the first time tonight, congress pman jim more ran is picking out about the scandal that forced his son to resign from his campaign. ridden camera from the group project vare atoss shows the 23-year-old patrick moran discussing how someone could vote illegally in virginia n. a statement, his father congressman moran says he doesn't condone the actions of the right-wing organization, but he says the conversation reflected a serious error in judgment. arlington police say they are investigating possible voter fraud after the release of that tape. race for the white house now. and a change in the polls. tonight, mitt romney has edged ahead of president obama.

in the latest "washington post"/abc news poll, romney is leading 50% to 47% among likely voters. that marks the first time that romney has reached 50%. romney also led among independents. independents will likely decide the election in battleground states such as florida, ohio and virginia. >> president obama is back at the white house tonight after a 48-hour cross-country campaign tour of six states. today he 'twas was in richmond he touted the endorsement of colin powell. he also cast his ballot in early voting. the romney/ryan ticket is also campaigning hard in battleground states with the president rallying just 50 miles away from cleveland, tonight mitt romney spoke to a large crowd in defiance, ohio. his second stop in that state today. his running mate paul ryan made two stops in virginia. ryan held a campaign event

tonight in charlottesville after a rally earlier in bristol. gift cards, letters and packages disappearing from mailboxes in one d.c. neighborhood lately so a homeowner set up a hidden camera and caught the thief red-handed. erika gonzalez is live in northwest with the stoer. >> reporter: doreen, people in this neighborhood are coming home, expecting to find those packages waiting for them. instead, they're finding empty boxes and in some cases missing altogether. a cleveland park woman set up a surveillance camera outside her home after she noticed a number of packages weren't arriving. this video shows the moment when a postmaster leaves and another man walks up. he looks around, making sure no one's the wiser, and in a brazen move in broad daylight takes what's inside the boxes from the doorstep, puts it in his bag, and walks away, leaving the empty box. >> no, it worries you, too. because obviously they're

getting up close to the house rncht. >> reporter: this couple has lived in the area for 13 years and are going to change up things after what neighbors call a rash of package theft. >> maybe shop more at the stores and less online. >> reporter: polices are stepping up patrol. this man seems to think the area is an easy target. >> because we're ajas enlt to rock park. it's easy grab and go. >> reporter: you know, some residents are telling us it can be things lierg gift cards, for other folks it's pricey items like ipads being left on their 0 doorsteps and being taken in one fell swoop. some are leaving notes to ask neighbors to pick up their packages for them. in northwest, erika gonzalez, news4. tonight, criminal charges file against a well-known swim coach. we'll tell you about the allegation it that's date back 30 years. plus, our coverage of hurricane sandy continues.

one of our area's most successful swim coaches is back home tonight after a surrender to police on a child abuse charge. rick kurl was released on bond from jail in montgomery county, the charge dates back to the 1980s. that's when one of his former swimmers kelly davies kern says he sexually abused her until she

was 18, for five years. kern now 43 ys she decided to come forward to avoid a cover-up. >> i don't know whether to laugh or cry. i'm thankful, i'm sad. i just feel confirmation that what i did was the right thing to do. >> currin also accused kurl of paying her family $150,000 in 1989 to agree not to press charges or to speak publicly. breaking story tonight -- growing concern along the entire east coast. hurricane sandy inches closer to our area, the storm already blamed for 11 deaths in cuba. many are watching and waiting to see where it goes next. jay gray has our report. >> reporter:he storm turns its attention toward the east coast. >> i've been watch williing for last two, three days, and i saw this morning it's headed this way. >> reporter: models show sandy brushing the mid-atlantic through the weekend and ultimately targeting the east

coast early next week. if the current forecast holds, new york could take a direct hit. >> we've opened the office of emergency management situation room already, and the nyc coastal storm plan was activated early this morning. >> reporter: early signs of the storm are already showing up along the beaches in florida. thick clouds and a growing surf. >> it's beautiful, absolutely devastatingly beautiful. >> reporter: and lifeguards warn extremely dangerous. >> every year we have some kind of terrible thing happen where somebody goes out and gets injured or killed when they went out in the ocean when it's like this or worse. >> reporter: fearing the worst, preparations have already started, boats being pulled from the water, furnitured strapped and down. and emergency operations teams in the region gearing up for a possible strike from sandy. >> it's communication, coordination and preparation. >> reporter: residents are getting ready as well, stocking up on essentials. >> i just want to be safe.

>> reporter: a wish now shared by millions on the east coast, working, watching and waiting for sandy. jay gray, nbc news. >> meanwhile, doug's been watching all the latest tracking, and it's not looking good for us, is it? >> it's honestly looking a little scary for us. it really is. this could be a historic storm. i think it will be a historic storm for parts of the mid-atlantic and parts of northeast. you just heard from jay gray could make a direct impact on new york. i'm thinking closer to our area unfortunately. let's take a look and show you what's going on out there right now. hurricane sandy is now still in the bahamas. you notice the green, that is the rain in the out ur bands come through portions of south florida. that will most likely continue for about the next 12 to 18 hours. they've seen winds upwards of 60 miles per hour here. they're not going to see the worst of this storm by any means. they're sandy will make its way into the open waters of the atlantic, which is it's dog right now, and we'll see it make its way to the north. right now the latestest advisory has winds of 90 miles per hour,

down from where it was earlier and you may think that's good news. the strength of this thing not really a factor as far as that is concerned because once it interacts with the area of low pressure just off to our north and west, the cold front that's going to make its way in here, that's why you're hearing things like superstorm, thirngs like historical. once again, this is why we're watching. this is going to make its way out into the atlantic and then curve back to the u.s. i think this curve is going to be very close to ocean city, very close to the delmarva, and then potential 30 rigly right a our region here. so we're going to be watching this one very closely. on saturday, not too worried. saturday looking like a pretty good day and saturday will be a good day to prepare for this storm, as it makes its way up the coast sunday. low impact here around the washington, d.c., area. i think for the marine corps marathon, if you're out and about, expect to get wet, expect a little bit of wind. the highest impacts, though, starting to get down toward the beaches on monday, as this storm

moves in closer to our region. very windy, very rainy across the entire i 95 corridor, potentially from richmond all the way up through washington and over through portions of philadelphia, all the way up towards new york city. but we could get hit very hard with very strong winds, coastal flooding and maybe not just along the beaches but maybe inland flooding along the chesapeake and even the potomac river and then very heavy rain. rainfall upwards of maybe 3 to 6 inches, maybe more, and i think we're going to see numerous power outages potentially in the millions when you talk about washington up i-95. a lot of power outages are expected. once again, this storm really means business. the rain will start on sunday most likely early and become heavy late in the day. the winds will increase throughout the afternoon and the heaviest i think will be on monday. i know some areas say tuesday. i think thl be on monday for us. so once again, just be prepared for this. not trying to scare. want to make sure everybody is prepared and aware that we are

going to be dealing with this storm. so once again, continue to watch us here on nbc 4 and we'll give you the late e. tomorrow morning, mostly cloudy, areas of fog some dense. 51 to 59 degrees, tomorrow afternoon, not bad at all, we will see plenty of cloud cover by sun peeking through especially late in the day, skill mild, 66 to 71 degrees. as we move through the next few days, eye of 69 on saturday and then here comes sandy, sunday, monday, tuesday, the worst of this it storm. halloween i think things will start to clear out. that is some good news. once again, we wants to keep you ahead of the storm. do download our app on your ipod or android. search nbc washington weather for the latest. any warnings that come up a lot of times we'll get maybe tropical storm warnings, wind advisories, whatever it is, you'll get it first on your phone, then tune in and we'll keep you

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>> announcer: this is the xfinity sports desk brought to you by xfinity, your home for the most live sports. one of the things i know pro athletes have to respect are guys who have endurance, who just show up time after time after time. london flechor. >> built to last. he's been playing forever, 231 straight games. it used to take a miracle to pull him off the field. now it looks like if london fletcher is going to play against the steelgers it might take a miracle. he missed his second straight practice, seeing a neurologist because much his balance problems. balance problems as a linebacker, a problem. garcon still has problems with his feet. he visited a specialist in charlotte who confirmed he has a torn ligament at the base of his toe, an area called the plantar plate. garcon has been invisible since

the first game of the season. there seems to be a bit of a disconnect between the coaching staff and their number one receiver when it comes to his injury. >> the doctor said to us if he can tolerate the pain, he's not going to make it any worse. so it's still the same thing right there, but when you can't go out and perform and push off your foot, then you can't push off your foot. that's where he's at right now. >> the doctor it can't technically get worse but it can feel worse, i guess. it's an inside feeling thing, i guess. they say it can't get worse, but i think it can. it can get dislocated. could cause other injuries for overcompensating. >> kind of obvious what's going on there. >> yeah. does he want to play some place else? >> i don't think so. i think as a receiver -- one coach said, if he was an offensive lineman, he could probably appplay through this. but when you're a receiver and you're a speed player, you have

to plant. it's a different situation for pierre garcon. you know it was like a georgetown basketball reunion at the opening of the new nike store in georgetown. john thompson jr., patrick ewing, the whole gang to see big john honored. surrounded by his grandkids, big john thompson cut the require bon at the new nike store at georgetown. it's officially open. this place is beautiful,s vintage jerseys and pictures all over the place. many of the stars were on hand. a dozen or so former players to support big john. >> i think it's great. anytime something like that happens you reflect back on some of the experiences you've had with them, and anytime somebody acknowledges awhat these guys accomplished, certainly my name is up front, but i'm not kidding about the fact that the support of all the people who contributed to it. >> what's it like when you see all the former players coming

back? >> oh, it's a beautiful thing. the association that georgetown basketball and nike has had down through the years, the bond is strong. so the tradition, the history, the associations are great. and these guys are part of it. >> it shows the respect we have for coach thompson, also the university. i got a call from michael johnson saying they're honoring coach thompson, so i had to be here. >> cool to be see everybody out there, especially patrick ewing. tough break for maryland, they lose another quarterback, rose is out, burns will start and the giants win game two of ♪

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welcome back once again looking at what we're going to be seeing over the next couple of days as we track sandy up the coast. tomorrow into the day on saturday, i think we're looking at a pretty nice couple of days here, friday and saturday. it's a good time to start to prepare for this storm. again, sunday, monday and tuesday we will see the worst of this, most likely sunday night into early monday. this is one a lot of times i don't say this, but this is one don't[ male announcer ]s is one if barack obama is re-elected,

what will the next four years be like? one: the debt will grow from $16 trillion to $20 trillion. two: 20 million americans could lose their employer-based health care. three: taxes on the middle class will go up by $4,000. four: energy prices will continue to go up. and five: $716 billion in medicare cuts

that hurt current seniors. five reasons we can't afford four more years of barack obama. i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. >> announcer: it's "the tonight show with jay leno," featuring rickey minor and "the tonight show" band. tonight, jay welcomes -- russell brand. jane lynch.